The RetroLounge Daily Poem Thread (Fri 7/21/06)

[RetroLounge]

I’ll Say It This Way

You are my 5th Avenue
You are my 6th my 8th my Broadway
You are my grain of salt my steak
--------- boiled baked and fried potatoes
--------- my sweet corn on the cob
You are my border crossing
You are my trans-Atlantic flight
--------- the long layover between London and Bilbao
You are my new pair of shoes
--------- the blisters they give my feet
--------- the sliced tomato in the fridge
--------- the smell in the sheets
--------- memory of your underwear drawer
--------- the cool in my drink
--------- humidity
You are the obituary on page A 17
--------- the sliver of photograph falling
--------- out of the folded-up letter I still
--------- haven’t sent
You are radio static
You are the dream I had last night
--------- the night before
--------- I want tonight
You are the words
--------- I wish I’d written
You are anticipation
--------- the mistakes I’ve made
--------- the worst decisions I’ve made
--------- the moment I want to quit
You are the voice that says quit
You are the one for me
You two thousand miles away
You different languages spoken
You asleep right now while I write

Curtis Bauer

********************



Curtis Bauer is the author of the poetry collection Fence Line, which won the 2003 John Ciardi Poetry Prize. A founding member of the poetry collective, 7 Carmine, and the publisher of Q Ave Press chapbooks, Bauer’s poetry, nonfiction and translations have appeared in Barrow Street, The Iowa Review, The North American Review, Rivendell, Runes, and numerous other journals. After living for several years in Mexico, Spain and Iowa, he recently moved to Texas, where he is an instructor of creative writing at Texas Tech University.

********************

RL

If you have a request for a certain Poet, post their name in the thread and I will find a poem by them and post it...

if you want to see some of my poetry, see the blog at:
http://www.myspace.com/retropaul

[yvr girl]

1. Love can be rather all encompassing can't it?

:hi:

[RetroLounge]

5. So I hear...

:D

RL

[Callalily]

2. Nice description of

absolute love. But personally, I don't think it's such a good idea to be so dependent on another person for one's total happiness. Far too much of a responsibility, and unrealistic.

[RetroLounge]

6. I don't think it's a dependency thing here...

Rather, just a way to (beautifully) describe the depth and breadth of his love...

:hi:

RL

[miss_american_pie]

3. Lovely set of images

:hi:

[RetroLounge]

7. Yes...

I found him off a link from Sandra Beasley's page...

:hug:

RL

[wildhorses]

4. reckon he meant...

You are my everything:P

I bet he was lonely when he wrote it

[RetroLounge]

8. Lonely?

You are the one for me
You two thousand miles away
You different languages spoken
You asleep right now while I write

You are right. I assumed the last line meant they were in the same place, but now I see differently.

:hi:

RL

[lizziegrace]

9. Very nice RL

:hug: